


excuse

by aquila (pipistrelle)



Series: drift dictionary [3]
Category: Pacific Rim (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Raleigh's a tactile creature
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-16
Updated: 2020-07-16
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:07:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25318051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pipistrelle/pseuds/aquila
Summary: It's unprofessional, the way he's acting.
Relationships: Raleigh Becket/Mako Mori
Series: drift dictionary [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/60955
Comments: 4
Kudos: 53





	excuse

**Author's Note:**

> Making another sweep through the archive drafts to try to (one day, 7+ years after the movie came out) finish this series!

Here’s the truth about the Drift hangover: it doesn’t last. That weird, intense, wrenching whole-body separation that makes you feel electrified and cut-in-half, that constant startled jerk as you reach for your co-pilot’s thoughts that should be there but aren’t -- that burns itself out after 24 hours or so. By the time Raleigh is out of the Shatterdome infirmary, the Drift hangover is long gone. He kind of wishes it wasn’t, since being royally Drift-hungover would give him an excuse for the way he’s acting.

He’s not hungover, he’s intoxicated. It’s embarrassing. Jaeger pilots are expected to have some self-control when it comes to the intimacy of the Drift, which means not having your hands all over your partner at the slightest opportunity.This is rookie stuff, this reaching for things he doesn’t need so he has an excuse to brush his hand against her elbow in the mess hall, or making a show of oh-so-casually splaying out on the sofa so his head ends up on her shoulder and his leg presses up against her hip. It’s unprofessional. 

Mako, of course, is impeccable in public, and more and more often Raleigh finds her covering for him, playing into his stupid little charades so he won’t look quite so desperate. He’s deeply grateful and obscurely shamed by her obvious attempts to humor him, to keep him in check with a gentle touch on the shoulder or squeeze of the hand until they’re alone. 

“Sensei warned me about things like this,” she says, serene and a little mocking, in their quarters after hours when he’s sprawled out over their bunk with his head in her lap while she tries to work. 

He’s embarrassed, but he can’t take advantage of her lack of piloting experience. “Mako, the Drift hangover -- this isn’t --”

“I know. Sensei warned me about rude Americans. I think the word is --  _ handsy _ .”

“You’re lying.”

“I never lie,” Mako lies, with a Pentecost-trained perfect poker face. 

But the next day she lets him hold her hand openly in the mess, and when he leans over to murmur “Who’s  _ handsy _ now, Miss Mori,” in her ear, she almost laughs out loud.


End file.
